Most Critical Component for Flight Simulators

[Carl DaBeast]

I've been asked to put together a PC for a colleague's son when i noticed that the computers she was looking at were refurbished ones that were marked up by more than 40% the components price.

 

She said that her son want to play the typical games such as GTA V and such but also use flight simulators.

 

I was wondering what the most critical component for flight simulators are. I.E. should I go for a better graphics card, a faster CPU, or a CPU with more cores?

 

This is the current plan.

 

Also given that the case is not entirely on the cheap side, do you guys know if there any other similar cases that look clean, have a window, and blocks view form the power supply as there will be a lot of cables there...

 

Thank you.

[Zyndo]

1 hour ago, Carl DaBeast said:

Snip

not entirely sure which "flight simulators" you intend to play.... but that computer looks woefully inadequate. Sim's usually require/benefit from high amounts of RAM and strong CPU's with at least 4 physical cores. You should be looking at a larger budget if you're looking for a good time in your simulators (it will depend on the title though). This PC is even border-line for a decent GTA V experience, depending on what kind of framerates/resolution and settings you're willing to play at.

Also, you're massively overspending on your motherboard for features you cannot make use of.

[YedZed]

Don't buy a Z170 for a non-k CPU!

[Yoinkerman]

I would step up to a real quad core but other than that it looks good.

 

Have you considered the low end ryzen 5 or the ryzen 3 that will be out in a bit?

[SeanAngelo]

15 minutes ago, Carl DaBeast said:

I've been asked to put together a PC for a colleague's son when i noticed that the computers she was looking at were refurbished ones that were marked up by more than 40% the components price.

 

She said that her son want to play the typical games such as GTA V and such but also use flight simulators.

 

I was wondering what the most critical component for flight simulators are. I.E. should I go for a better graphics card, a faster CPU, or a CPU with more cores?

 

This is the current plan.

 

Also given that the case is not entirely on the cheap side, do you guys know if there any other similar cases that look clean, have a window, and blocks view form the power supply as there will be a lot of cables there...

 

Thank you.

get the 6 core or 4 core ryzen instead. flight sumulators afaik like cores. i may be wrong though.

[Carl DaBeast]

8 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

not entirely sure which "flight simulators" you intend to play.... but that computer looks woefully inadequate. Sim's usually require/benefit from high amounts of RAM and strong CPU's with at least 4 physical cores. You should be looking a larger budget if you're looking for a good time in your simulators (it will depend on the title though). This PC is even border-line for a decent GTA V experience, depending on what kind of framerates/resolution and settings you're willing to play at.

Also, you're massively overspending on your motherboard for features you cannot make use of.

That's the exact type of a response I wanted, thank you.

2 minutes ago, YedZed said:

Don't buy a Z170 for a non-k CPU!

Just realized that the CPU wasn't a K processor.

 

 

Updated it to this, is it any better?

[Arika]

CPU  is generally the most important for Flight Sims. that CPU is definitely not going to be enough. i have an i5 4460 in my "flight sim" computer and that only just manages to get by with a few lock up every now and again so im going to need to upgrade it.

 

will also need at least 16GB RAM

 

Flight simming is probably the hardest to build for on a budget. do you happen to know what flight sims they are wanting to use? FSX, FSW, P3D, X-Plane 10/11, DCS World, etc?

[Zyndo]

14 minutes ago, Carl DaBeast said:

Snip

 

About the same cost as your original build, but is vastly superior. It also comes in a pretty good looking black/white colour scheme imo. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WktcKZ

[Zyndo]

2 minutes ago, Carl DaBeast said:

Updated it to this, is it any better?

Yes its "better".... what is your overall budget? it would  help us to know what to recommend if we knew how much you had available to spend.

[Carl DaBeast]

7 minutes ago, SeanAngelo said:

get the 6 core or 4 core ryzen instead. flight sumulators afaik like cores. i may be wrong though.

Good idea, forgot that Ryzen is a thing now.

[Carl DaBeast]

2 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

Yes its "better".... what is your overall budget? it would  help us to know what to recommend if we knew how much you had available to spend.

This is getting close to it, the refurbished one was about 50 USD more expensive. It might not seem much but in Sweden we generally have to increase the price by 25% due to VAT.

[Zyndo]

1 minute ago, Carl DaBeast said:

This is getting close to it, the refurbished one was about 50 USD more expensive

soooo... $825? USD

[Carl DaBeast]

5 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

 

About the same cost as your original build, but is vastly superior. It also comes in a pretty good looking black/white colour scheme imo. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WktcKZ

Seems nice, I'm assuming that the included wraith cooler should be enough then as you haven't included a aftermarket one, if not then which one is good?

[Carl DaBeast]

1 minute ago, Zyndo said:

soooo... $825? USD

yes more or less.

[Zyndo]

Just now, Carl DaBeast said:

Seems nice, I'm assuming that the included wraith cooler should be enough then as you haven't included a aftermarket one, if not then which one is good?

the wraith cooler is quite good and can provide ample cooling for even a decent amount of overclocking on the 1600. You should not waste money on an aftermarket CPU cooler when there are other more pressing things to be spending your money on in this price range.

[Zyndo]

11 minutes ago, Carl DaBeast said:

yes more or less.

well with an extra $100 USD to play around with (compared to my last referred build) there isn't a ton of upgrades you could do.... you can't really buy a better GPU because there are none on the market right now as a result of all the mining going on... perhaps you could try to buy a used 970/980? both of those would be better than a 1050ti and cost around the same amount of you could score a good deal on one.

You could also invest in at least a 120GB SSD for your OS and maybe a game or two... it will make a massive quality of life improvement for you.

 

If you decide to go with the Inwin 301 case, you will need to buy case fans for it (I did not notice it was fanless when i suggested it). You may wish to go for the Define C Mini instead from Fractal Design (if you NEED a psu shroud) or the Fractal Design Focus G Mini (if you don't care about a shroud and wish to save a few bucks).

 

I do also suggest getting a CX550M instead of the CX450M for only 10 more dollars... if you ever wanted to upgrade your GPU in the future and get into overclocking, a 450W PSU may leave you lacking, so the extra $10 should give you ample buffer for any reasonable system upgrades you wish to make.

[Carl DaBeast]

10 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

the wraith cooler is quite good and can provide ample cooling for even a decent amount of overclocking on the 1600. You should not waste money on an aftermarket CPU cooler when there are other more pressing things to be spending your money on in this price range.

So due to some of the components on the list you linked me not being sold here this is the closest I got to it.

 

Pretty sure its on par with it.

[HunterSkater429]

13 minutes ago, Carl DaBeast said:

Seems nice, I'm assuming that the included wraith cooler should be enough then as you haven't included a aftermarket one, if not then which one is good?

Stock cooler is always enough to cool your cpu. Only time you'll need a new cooler is if you overclock. 

[Carl DaBeast]

8 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

-snip-

Finding a better GPU wont be hard as mining isn't very common in Sweden and I know a retailer that has stock of it.

 

The PSU doesn't seem to be useful as you cant SLI the 1050 to 1060 cards, and a 1070 is a bit too expensive ATM.

[Zyndo]

6 minutes ago, Carl DaBeast said:

So due to some of the components on the list you linked me not being sold here this is the closest I got to it.

 

Pretty sure its on par with it.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WktcKZ

 

this is a superior build. it comes with a better motherboard which has more features on it, faster RAM which is hugely important for CPU performance on Ryzen, and costs much less (although local pricings may vary). Also, if you plan on using the S340, please get an ATX motherboard. mATX motherboards look really goofy and undersized in an ATX case.

 

Do you wish for a particular colour scheme or aesthetic in your build? I could be recommending other parts. Its difficult to give you an exact list though, as I do not know what is available to you where you live.

[Carl DaBeast]

7 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WktcKZ

 

this is a superior build. it comes with a better motherboard which has more features on it, faster RAM which is hugely important for CPU performance on Ryzen, and costs much less (although local pricings may vary). Also, if you plan on using the S340, please get an ATX motherboard. mATX motherboards look really goofy and undersized in an ATX case.

 

Do you wish for a particular colour scheme or aesthetic in your build? I could be recommending other parts. Its difficult to give you an exact list though, as I do not know what is available to you where you live.

The website I am using is inet.se, the website is in Swedish but I'm fairly sure you can have chrome automatically translate it. 

 

I found some ram that runs at 3200 Mhz and selected it instead, however the motherboard does not exist on the site and thus the closest similar one would be this one.

 

Another case that I was looking at was the Corsair Carbide 88R which is a mATX case.

 

The color scheme I was going for was mostly black with accents of red.

[Zyndo]

2 minutes ago, Carl DaBeast said:

found some ram that runs at 3200 Mhz and selected it instead, however the motherboard does not exist on the site and thus the closest similar one would be this one.

 

Another case that I was looking at was the Corsair Carbide 88R which is a mATX case.

 

The color scheme I was going for was mostly black with accents of red.

Do you have access to the MSI B350M Mortar (matx board) or tomahawk (atx board)? they are very similarly spec'd and looking, just in different form factors. They have a great set of features and should fit your aesthetic requirements quite well, if they're not overpriced where you live.

[Carl DaBeast]

3 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

Do you have access to the MSI B350M Mortar (matx board) or tomahawk (atx board)? they are very similarly spec'd and looking, just in different form factors. They have a great set of features and should fit your aesthetic requirements quite well, if they're not overpriced where you live.

The Mortar is more or less the same price as the other two, about $5 difference. It looks better as well.

 

So this will be the build then.

[Zyndo]

Just now, Carl DaBeast said:

The Mortar is more or less the same price as the other two, about $5 difference. It looks better as well.

 

So this will be the build then.

I do still recommend the 550W PSU rather than 450W if you can afford it. I do still recommend at least a 120GB SSD if you can afford it (makes a MASSIVE difference in your OS navigation and day-to-day computer use), and the 88R case is plenty good but has no red accents or a PSU shroud (which is totally fine if you're okay with it, jut want to be sure you would be happy with it)

As far as GPU availability goes in sweeden..... if you have access to normal priced RX470/570, or even RX480/580 GTX 1060 6GB's.... then you may also wish to consider buying one of those. stock and pricing around the world has been pretty hit and miss lately, but if you have the funds available, that could be a valuable addition to your gaming rig... not so much for your flight simulators, but definitely in a game like GTA 5 if you want it to look prettier or enjoy higher framerates.

[Carl DaBeast]

27 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

I do still recommend the 550W PSU rather than 450W if you can afford it. I do still recommend at least a 120GB SSD if you can afford it (makes a MASSIVE difference in your OS navigation and day-to-day computer use), and the 88R case is plenty good but has no red accents or a PSU shroud (which is totally fine if you're okay with it, jut want to be sure you would be happy with it)

As far as GPU availability goes in sweeden..... if you have access to normal priced RX470/570, or even RX480/580 GTX 1060 6GB's.... then you may also wish to consider buying one of those. stock and pricing around the world has been pretty hit and miss lately, but if you have the funds available, that could be a valuable addition to your gaming rig... not so much for your flight simulators, but definitely in a game like GTA 5 if you want it to look prettier or enjoy higher framerates.

I think I'll stick with what i've planned for now and keep the other things as future upgrades. Given that the system should be drawing around 230W at the moment I doubt overclocking it a little bit would draw THAT much more that I would need 100W more, but then again I have never OC anything before.

 

I know that an SSD would be nice and all but it wouldn't fit in the budget and worst case scenario if I can't transfer it later I can just reinstall windows on it.

 

Thanks for all the help!